The ThunderWolves responded, rattling off five consecutive points to beat Fort Lewis in five sets, 24-26, 25-12, 25-16, 23-25, 15-5 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference opener for both teams at Massari Arena.

“When we are good, like we were in Games 2 and 5, we can be really good,” Gomez said after her team had impressive attack percentages of .367 and .421 in those two sets. “When we’re bad, we can be really bad. That’s just this team right now. If our passing’s good, then something else isn’t. We just need to put it all together for an entire match.”

It was as if Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde had a girlfriend and she wore a ThunderWolves volleyball uniform. To wit: They had eight service aces, but eight service errors, too.

“Sometimes we get in our own heads,” senior Brianna Bryant said. “It was our first conference match and we were picked to finish pretty low in the RMAC, so we’re playing with a chip on our shoulder. It’s not a lack of focus, and I don’t think we’re a mental team. We just need to be more consistent.”

Bryant led the Pack (4-6, 1-0) with 17 kills. She and teammates Morgan Wilkening and Marissa Calvillo (12 kills each) took care of the offense. All three made big plays at different times in the match to either start or stop rallies.

The T-Wolves lost the first set, then rolled the Skyhawks 25-12 in the second. Their performance in the second wasn’t enough to cool the fire inside Gomez during the intermission.

“That,” she said, coming out of the locker room for the third set, “was not a fun place to be.”

CSU-Pueblo then rolled in the third set, but too many unforced errors in the fourth gave Fort Lewis (0-9, 0-1) life.

But the fifth set was all CSU-Pueblo.

Sierra Moran had three kills and Wilkening two for the Pack’s final five points after their coach’s plea.